Sweet Dreams Recipes

Steps:

• Line an 8 by 8-inch pan with aluminum foil. Set aside.
• In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and salt. Bring to a full boil, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until thick.
• Remove from heat and pour in the milk chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours or until firm. Cut to small squares and wrap in the "dream" or parchment paper.

Steps:

• In a large frying pan, heat 1 teaspoon ghee and pasta over medium heat until all pieces have lightly brown and give off a toasted aroma. Set aside.
• In a 3 quart heavy saucepan, heat milk and water on medium high. As soon as the mixture boils, reduce heat to medium and add fried pasta. Continue to simmer for 6 minutes, or until pasta is well cooked. Add sugar and simmer 15 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. When the mixture is done, it will have a creamy consistency.
• While the milk simmers, in the frying pan used for the pasta, fry the raisins and cashews in 2 teaspoons of ghee until lightly browned.
• Add the fried raisins and nuts and the cardamom to the milk, stir, and remove from the heat. Cover and chill for a few hours or more.
• Serve warm, reheating if necessary.
• In a heavy skillet, over medium to medium low heat, heat the butter until it is completely melted. Watch as the butter boils, first with large bubbles and white milk solids floating on the surface, then with only a fine white foam filling the entire surface. Stir occasionally.
• Soon, small patches of golden brown will appear on the surface, and the overall color of the butter will change from yellow to golden. Push aside the foam periodically to check the color of the sediment. When the sediment turns light brown, remove from the heat. (see note)
• Decant into a jar with a tight lid. Warm, if desired, for serving over rice.
• Note: If you heat until the sediment turns dark brown, the ghee will lose it's flavor and taste like vegetable oil.
• Yield: 1 cup

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch spring form pan.
• If needed, use a rolling pin with the cookie crumbs in a sealable plastic bag to crush them. Blend the cookie crumbs with the melted butter, press it into the bottom of the pan, and chill.
• In a mixer with a whisk attachment, place the softened cream cheese and whip it. Add the sugar and continue to mix until blended. Add the flour and salt and blend. Add the yolks and eggs gradually, scraping in between then add the vanilla. Add 3/4 cup of the sour cream and mix in. Take off 2 cups of the mixture and set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1/4 cup sour cream with the cooled melted chocolate then whisk it into the reserved 2 cups of filling. Pour a layer of the vanilla filling into the bottom of the pan about 1-inch thick. By large spoonfuls, alternate the 2 fillings to fill the spring form pan. Using the flat face of an icing spatula, swirl the 2 batters slightly to marbleize it.
• Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 250 degrees F and bake for 1 more hour. Then, turn the oven off and let it cool in the oven 1 hour. The cake will still shimmy, but it is done, it will set up as it chills. Refrigerate the cake overnight. Remove from the spring form pan, slice with a hot, dry knife, and serve.
• Notes about the recipe: I had to make 6 cheesecakes a day when I was pastry chef at the Strathallen Hotel in Rochester New York. Just to rotate them halfway through the baking was a major production. I didn't have may own baking oven so had to use the ones on our very busy hot line. It was a trick just to keep the guys (cooks) from changing the temperatures on my ovens because they always last them to 500. And then to get them to move so I could kneel in front of the ovens to juggle the cakes around...forget it. So I'd have to yell out "ROTATE!" and get everyone away from the oven while I kneeled in front of them to do the rotation ballet of hot shimmying cheesecakes with dry towels (a hot commodity in kitchens). My knees on my chef's pans were always dirty and that was why.